Shadow Magic
by eiralyss
Summary: Naruto brings Sasuke back to Kanoha, is kicked out, comes back under the alias Shadow Fox and is sent on a mission to Hogwarts with some of the rookie nine who don't even know it's him.
1. Prologue

**Hi! I'm Eiralyss and this is my first attempt at a Naruto Fanfic! I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter or whatever other stories I may drag into this. The only thing I do own is my name. One day I shall own the world . . . perhaps.**

Shadow Magic

By Eiralyss

Chapter One: Prologue

"Kakashi, I have a mission for you, Shadow Fox (1), and the brats. A man from far away has a year-long protection mission for us. I need you to get Neji, Kiba, Shikamaru, Sakura, and Sasuke. Meet me here in three hours, and for the last time, DON'T BE LATE!"

Tsunade emphasized the last three words with a punch that put a large crack in her desk and sent the piles of paperwork that had accumulated there flying. Kakashi merely nodded and walked out of the office.

Tsunade couldn't help but sigh. He had changed, all of them had, after the hyper-active blonde's 'death'.

**Flash Back**

A weary blond with a raven haired boy on his back hobbled forward, blood dripping from his numerous wounds. He had a large gash in his chest where the other boy had hit him with a chidori. The battle had left him nearly depleted of chakra and it was only thanks to the fox that he was still alive, much less moving.

The only thought going through his mind was that he had to keep moving, otherwise Sasuke would die.

The raven haired boy had gone over to Orochimaru's side only six months ago, and it took everything Naruto had to get him back before the snake sannin took Sasuke over completely. Now they were both close to death, heading to Konoha.

Naruto had just made it to the gates of the village before he passed out in front of the guards.

Sasuke had been immediately taken to the hospital to have his wounds taken care of, whereas Naruto got a slightly different welcome. Three Anbu had taken him and pinned him to a tree using their kuni. The blood slowly drained from his arms and legs where the knives had pierced him until there was no more blood to drain. Meanwhile the Anbu merely laughed, cold and heartless, glad that the 'demon' was finally dead.

It wasn't until around midnight that Kakashi found him there, without so much as a hint of a chakra signature to show that he was still alive. The vision of the blond soaked in blood tinted silver by the moon light would haunt him for decades.

He had carried the boy as gently as he could to Tsunade, praying beyond hope that the boy was somehow, miraculously alive.

His prayers were unanswered. There was nothing that Tsunade could do but weep and vow vengeance against those who had a hand in his murder. The curse of the necklace had taken another precious person from her.

**End Flash Back**

Tsunade smiled wryly at the memory. Things were not always as they had seemed, and sometimes you had to look underneath the underneath. Not long after Kakashi had left Naruto's dead body with her had she heard his heart start up again. It looked like the fox didn't want to go down without a fight.

Her little brother was alive.

She knew of the assassination attempts against him, how he had been plotted against since he was barely old enough to walk, but before never had the village come that close to succeeding. There seemed to be only one option left. Tsunade proclaimed Naruto dead and, once he recovered, sent him off with an old friend who owed her a favor. Zaraki Ichigo(2).

Ichigo was a rounin, a wandering shinobi without a village, and incredibly powerful. If no one else, he could protect Naruto, and he owed her for healing him after a particularly grueling fight.

He could give Naruto a new chance at life. A better chance.

The village was never the same after the blond left.

Almost all of the rookie nine were devastated, and Iruka, who had considered Naruto as both a son and a brother, had to be restrained by five Anbu to keep him from destroying those who had killed the boy, including the unconscious Uchiha.

Jiraiya had almost destroyed Kanoha with some help from Gamabunta before Tsunade had managed to tell him that the brat was still alive.

It was two long years before the blond was ever seen in Kanoha again.

Tsunade had nearly choked when she saw the cloaked nin appear in her office. She hadn't even sensed him. Her muscles tensed prepared for an attack when she heard an all too familiar and missed: "Hey baa-chan."

It was obvious that the training with the slightly sadistic Ichigo had paid off, but Naruto had changed. His face was older; missing the baby fat it had two years ago, and his smile tentative, a far cry from his maniac grin. He was quieter too, but she could still see the spark in his eye, the symbol of his undying courage and kindness. He was still her Naruto under this new, tougher exterior.

He refused to tell her the exact training he had gone through, or the extent of his powers. He mentioned only in passing that he had several teachers and that he was infinitely stronger than when he left. 

Tsunade couldn't mask her sadness as her little brother refused to tell her about the life he had been living for the past years, but that sadness was wiped away in an instant when he gave her the foxy grin that she remembered him for. "Ne, baa-chan, I was wondering if you needed a new Anbu captain to protect Konoha."

Naruto, under the alias of "Shadow Fox" had become the Anbu captain in less than a month, with no one in Kanoha realizing who he really was.

**Wow, that was longer than I wanted it to be. I wrote this during math after a quiz and decided to run with it. It's a bit different from the previous stories I've written, no? BTW, all reviews are welcome, if I made any mistakes, please correct me, this is an AU and pairings can be voted on in the future. Eiralyss**

(1) If you can't guess who this is, you deserve to be dumped in a pond.

(2) Kudos to anyone who can guess which two characters this name comes from. Sadistic, battle crazed, has a sword bigger than him…ring any bells?


	2. Naruto's Evolution

**Hello once again! Eiralyss here to say I HATE GROUP PROJECTS (sorry, my group members have left everything up to me and it's due in a day)! That's all. :P**

**Oh yeah! I don't own Naruto, Harry Potter or any other random stories I happen to drag into this. **

Chapter Two: Naruto's Evolution

A blond boy strode purposefully into the forest surrounding Kanoha and took off his mask. It really was a pain to stay under that thing for so long, but it was necessary to keep the village from realizing who he was. He took off his cloak and set it on the ground before going through the complex hand signs of a powerful jutsu.

A minute later the blond was standing next to a tall man with red hair and eyes as well as nine bushy red tails. The blond was also sporting golden colored tails of his own. Without saying a word, he handed the mission assignment he had just gotten from Tsunade to the fox demon.

Dear Konoha ninja,

I wish to request your assistance in a mission of the upmost importance. There is a dangerous man threatening the safety of the world, including my school and a certain boy within it. I would greatly appreaciate it if you could send around ten of your best ninjas to guard my school and the boy named Harry Potter for a year. I shall arrive in your village around two on the third Sunday of the month as get your reply.

Sincerely yours, Albus Dumbledor

Kyuubi smirked. "**This sounds like it's going to be one heck of an adventure kit."**

Naruto smiled back and looked back towards the town he had come back to.

Kanoha was different from how Naruto remembered. It was smaller, less intimidating. He remembered leaving two years ago, shocked and scared, both mentally and physically. He had never expected Tsunade to send him away, especially with such a sadistic, evil sensei. The moment they had left the village Zaraki-san, his new teacher, had immediately throw some weights at him and demanded that he never take them off, even when sleeping. Naruto had taken it as a joke at first; the weights were 50 lb each! He was quickly, and rather painfully, taught that Zaraki did not joke.

Zaraki demanded the strictest discipline and control. Every time Naruto shouted too loudly, or did something stupid, like falling in a lake, he would get ten pounds added to his weights. By the end of a week he had over 200 pounds of weights on him.

Zaraki also had an unnerving habit of attacking Naruto several times a day, no matter where they were, or what they were doing.

Zaraki's training had been rough, to say the least, and to make things worse, the fox had decided to take a sudden interest in him. It had happened a mere two months after leaving the village…

**Flash Back**

Naruto was backed into a corner, surrounded by the rock nin who had managed to chase him this far. He should have known better than to have trusted the chuckling Zaraki when he said that the scroll he handed him was unimportant. It had led the enraged rock nin strait to him.

Note to self: Never trust Zaraki if he is smiling or laughing. It probably means that something very bad is going to happen to you in the next half an hour.

Naruto formed a rasengan with the last of his chakra reserves and took out the remaining seven rock nins.

He awoke in the sewers that he recognized as the part of his mind where the Kyuubi dwelled.

"**What the hell are you doing here brat!"**

Naruto winced as the harsh voice of the demon roared inside his head. He took a few steps closer to the cage and was shocked by what he saw. The great demon fox was in a relatively human form with fuzzy fox ears and nine cuddly looking tales. If it weren't for the killer intent you could feel radiating off of the demon in waves or the blood red eyes he would have laughed.

"**Don't tell me you nearly got yourself killed again!" **Kyuubi roared, baring his teeth in a maniacal looking grimace on the human version of his face.

"Hehe, well, my sensei set me up, and there were all of these rock nin after me and…" Naruto began sheepishly.

"**Don't give me that gaki! If you die, I die too! That's it. I'm not leaving you to those pathetic mortals any more. When you sleep you're coming here to train with me, got it brat? I'm sick and tired of being stuck in your miserable body."** The Kyuubi grinned when he thought of his plans for "training".

'Great,' Naruto thought,' now I have two evil senseis to deal with.'

**End Flash Back**

It hadn't been long after that meeting with Kyuu that things went wrong. Naruto was getting stronger, and at an incredible rate. He was being tortur--um--trained by Zaraki-Sensei by day and the evil fox demon by night, but that didn't prepare him for what happened next.

Kyuubi's training took place in his mind while he was asleep. He first learned how to create a separate plane in his mind so that he and the demon would have room to train. The demon mostly kept to human form while training him, and if possible, he was crazier than Zaraki. He could control the gravity in Naruto's mindscape, bringing it to bone crushing levels while expecting the blond to master the new moves that he was teaching him.

Naruto soon learned that for every hour he spent training in his mind, only five minutes had passed in the outside world, giving him plenty of time to train with Kyuubi while still getting some sleep.

It was in the middle of training one night that Kyuu had told Naruto that something was not quite right. It turned out that kyuu had been secretly making some 'minor' adjustments to Naruto's body when the boy wasn't looking and he had taken it a step too far.

He had started with increasing the blonde's brain capacity. Even for a human it was ridiculously small. He had then made some changes to his anatomy, making his bones denser and adding muscle tissue in some places where it hadn't been before. Then he decided to get creative and mess with the blonde's eyesight. That's where the trouble started.

He had been fiddling with the nerves in the boy's eyes when he accidentally let a surge of chakra loose, right into the optical nerve. Because of the massive demonic power that had been forced into such a confined space, Naruto's eyes would be undergoing some massive changes in the next month or so, including, but not limited to far distance sight, the ability to see through objects, the ability to see through lies, as well as the ability to notice every little detail in a split second and memorize it completely.

The next problem had come only one month after Naruto had mastered his new eyes. They were in the middle of their nightly training when he heard Kyuu mutter something that sounded suspiciously like 'another issue came up'.

The blond had nearly passed out when he heard what Kyuu had to say. Due to another misplaced surge of chakra and a dissipating seal, Naruto was absorbing Kyuu's power and he would soon be getting his tails. It had taken all of the control he had learned from dealing with a very grumpy Zaraki to keep from screaming.

Zaraki had been surprised about these new additions to say the least.

He had been pissed when Tsunade called upon the favor that he owed her to take care of a little brat. He had much better things to do with his time than deal with a hyper active, loud mouthed kid. He decided that he would break the kid within a week and drop him off at the nearest village, debt or no debt. He didn't count on the kid's determination.

He found himself enjoying tortur--um--training the kid and actually growing attached to him. Naruto managed to overcome every obstacle he managed to throw at him, and he never seemed to give up. Then he heard about the changes the boy's 'resident' was making.

He had sat by the kid as he grew his tails, an extremely painful process, and helped him manage his control with the new chakra influx.

The kid came to be somewhat of a son to him, and he taught him everything he could. Then came the day when the gaki had to show how smart he really was. He managed to temporarily release the kyuubi.

It wasn't like he released it and it went on rampage, no. the kid created a totally new sealing jutsu, something that hadn't been done in ten years and gave the fox that was sealed within him a powered down physical manifestation. That wasn't even the last of it.

The kid managed to form contracts with the foxes through Kyuubi who had taken to calling him kit with a certain amount of fondness, and he formed a contract with the wolves through a scroll Zaraki himself had. The gaki became a registered seal master through a office in the ice country under the alias Shadow Fox.

Now the kid was a bit more grown up and could best him in a sparring match two out of five time.

Tsunade had been right when she told Zaraki of Naruto. He defiantly was the number one most surprising ninja.

**Another chapter down! The next chapter is when the team gets together. More will be revealed about Naruto's training and abilities as the story goes on. BTW, tell me any pairings you would like to see in **

**this story before I listen to my friend's advice on it. She happens to have 'interesting' views on it. Eiralyss**

**Congrats to those of you who figured out that Zaraki Ichigo is a blend of characters from Bleach. Zaraki's insane personality as an instructor…scary.**


	3. Team Fox

**Now for another chapter! Please tell me any pairings you want to see or I'm going to have my friend decide. (she's nuts and would probably say something like Snape and Naruto…shudder)**

Chapter 3: Team Fox

Tsunade watched carefully as the ninja's gathered in her office, silently waiting to hear about the new mission. First was Fox, dressed in a black hooded jacket that hid his hair from view and a silver fox mask that only covered his eyes and nose. On his back were two large swords, one black and one silver.

The next person in was Sasuke. Tsunade suppressed the surge of anger that rushed through her upon seeing the boy. She couldn't help but blame him for Naruto's leaving. He had given in to the snake, turned traitor, just to get more power, yet he had been welcomed back to the village with open arms. Tsunade didn't trust him, but she knew that if she killed him, Naruto would be upset and she would have a very angry council on her back.

After the Uchiha's return, everyone had noticed a big change in him. While he had previously been anti-social, now he was outright ignoring anyone and everyone who tried to start a normal conversation with him. His eyes seemed dead and he was constantly going on harder and harsher missions. He was one of Kanoha's strongest Anbu with his signature Jackal mask.

The next person to come in was Neji. His panther Anbu mask seemed to glow menacingly in the meager light of the office. He was one of the rookie nine who had truly mourned the blonde's death and had taken a strong stance against the Uchiha for betraying the village and killing Naruto.

The next person to enter was Sakura. In the two years after Naruto left, the girl had become an excellent med-nin. She had gained Tsunade's ridiculous strength and her obsession with Sasuke had all but died after he had killed their team mate. She had become a valuable member of the village.

After Sakura came Kiba and his faithful dog Akimaru. Kiba was big. In the last two years both he and Akimaru had major growth spurts. Kiba was well over six feet tall and his dog was larger than a wolf.

The final two came in together. Kakashi was never on time, and Shikumaru was just too lazy to care.

"Che, troublesome." Shikamaru carefully observed the group assembled in the Hokage's office and sighed. Good-bye relaxing evening of cloud watching.

"Listen up! I have gathered you all here today because I have a rather peculiar mission that requires some of our best and youngest shinobi." Tsunade looked over the crowd in her office and bit her lip. This was going to be very difficult, but if they pulled it off…

"A man from a place called Europe has contacted me about an S class mission. He needs us to protect his school and a particular student from a Voldemort. I believe this Voldemort to be something like Orochimaru, you know, the creepy snake pedophile type (1). You will be required to learn English for this mission, and you shall infiltrate the school as students in order to gain the trust of the ones you'll be protecting and so you won't raise as much suspicion."

"Tsunade-sama, I'm a little old to be a stude-" Kakashi was cut off by a death glare from Tsunade, promising a world of pain if he didn't shut up.

"The leader of this mission will be Shadow Fox," Tsunade contined, with a brief nod to Fox who was standing in the corner. "Second in command will be Kakashi, followed by Shikamaru who will be your tactician. Any questions? You can gather at most four more people to go with you." The nins all nodded and left, leaving Tsunade alone with Fox and Kakashi.

"Fox requesting permission to bring Hinata, Ino, and Tenten." Naruto stepped forward, naming off the people he wanted on the mission.

"May I ask why we are bringing them?" Kakashi barely kept the disdain from his voice. The Anbu were under the control of a 16 year old who had shown up at the village only two months ago, and he obviously had no clue what he was doing. Why would he ask for so many girls who would only be a hindrance compared to some of the others he could have?

"From what I've read of the mission report, this school is split into four houses. I thought that it would be reasonable to have a boy and a girl in each house." Naruto smirked behind his mask as realization hit his old sensei.

Tsunade couldn't help but smile at the rivalry forming between her brother and his former Sensei. "Don't forget, you need to bring one more person with you. Our employer seems to be paranoid about this Voldemort."

"Shino. His bugs could come in handy for reconnaissance." Naruto's voice betrayed a small amount of amusement as he said this. They were supposed to go to a school in a foreign country and make friends, yet most of their team was either anti-social or completely insane. This was promising to be an interesting mission.

"Kakashi, go inform those that Fox has named about the mission and tell them to meet at the North Gate around seven tomorrow." Kakashi nodded and left, leaving only Tsunade and Naruto in the room.

"So there was something that you wanted to tell me Naruto?"

"Yah, you know all about the Kyuubi and everything already, but some things have changed."

"What do you mean by changed?" Tsunade did not like where this conversation seemed to be heading.

"Baa-chan, meet Kyuu." Naruto went through the hand signs and with a small pop, a red headed man with fox ears and nine swishing tails appeared in her office. A rather shocked Tsunade promptly passed out.

"**Guess this was a bit much for her, eh kit?"** The fox was chuckling as his kit grinned sheepishly.

"I haven't even shown her my tails yet."

"Tails?" Apparently the Hokage had woken up while they were talking, and she didn't look too happy. "What do you mean by 'tails' Naruto, and why the hell is the Kyuubi standing in my office?" The blond couldn't help but shudder at the killer intent leaking out of Tsunade.

"Well baa-chan…"

It had taken Naruto a good part of an hour to explain about his 'minor' changes, and in the end the Hokage could only shake her head. She knew that Naruto had gotten stronger, but this was just a bit too much.

"Baa-chan." Tsunade looked up to see a grinning Naruto showing off his nine black, golden tipped tails. It was all that she could do to stop herself from tugging on one to see if it was real. Instead, she softly touched one, as if petting it like a cat. Tsunade nearly fell over when she heard a low rumbling noise, only to realize that Naruto was purring. This was definitely blackmail material for another time.

"Sorry, I've got to go baa-chan! I have set up the training regimen for my team so we're prepared for our little trip. I might use some of Zaraki-sempai's more…unique…training programs." Tsunade shivered with fear and pity for the young nins that she was leaving in his care. She remembered some of those 'training programs' that Zaraki had shown her.

**Flash Back**

"Now, what you have to do is stand in the field with the blindfold on and duck." Zaraki's voice rang out over the grassy plain that they were on.

"Duck from what?" Tsunade asked uncertainly. She had agreed to train for a day with Zaraki only because she had lost a bet with him, and she was beginning to get the feeling that things were going to only get worse.

"hehe, You'll know."

Tsunade reeled backwards as she was hit by a rock that had to be going over 100 mph.

"What the hell do you think you're f doing you bastard?" She shouted, only to be pelted by three more rocks.

"You're supposed to duck you know. This is an exercise to increase your reaction time and your senses." Tsunade was hit by four more rocks before she managed to avoid even one.

"This'll go on until you can avoid getting hit for ten minutes."

"Damn you, you f"

**End Flash Back**

That little 'training program' still gave her nightmares.

**Another Chapter down! The training exercise is something like a game I had to play in gym. It was a twisted version of dodge ball (there were balls, not rocks) and my 'friend' tied her coat around my head as several other 'friends' all threw balls at me. cries oh well. Shinobi meet the wizards in the next chapter! Please review!**

**(1) I just had to include this…they are just too much alike! They would get along if they weren't both trying to dominate the world…**


	4. Of training and tourture

**Hello again! Eiralyss coming to you live from my computer programming class! Please tell me any pairings that you would like to see in the story, any and all pairings are welcome…except for Naruto and Voldemort. That's seriously where I draw the line.**

Chapter 4: Of training and tourture

"You have all gotten the basics of the mission from Tsunade, right," Fox barked at the team gathered before him. "We will be leaving in a month's time, but before that I will have expected you to have learned English as well as mastered the new techniques that I will be teaching you."

Just as Naruto had finished his speech, Kakashi appeared at the meeting place.

"You happen to be late."

"Well, there was this little old lady trying to cross the street and—"

"Not interested. Since you decided to be late, you will demonstrate this first exercise for us." The shinobi in the area suppressed a shiver at the evil smile that was now present on Fox's face.

"Before we begin though, everyone hold out your right hand." The shinobi complied with Fox's demand, and he painted a swirling seal on each of them. Forming two hand signals, Fox made the seals glow red before they disappeared completely.

"What was that for?" Neji raised an eyebrow and stared at the Anbu captain. As much as he respected the captain's power, he still didn't trust him.

"That is a gravity seal. Think of a number, do the hand signs, and voila, your weight will increase by that number. It's like weights, only more effective and less bulky." Fox smiled again and flourished his hand as he explained.

"We'll start off with adding a light fifty pounds to each of you. You will be expected to keep the seal activated at all times, and believe me, I_ will _know if you deactivate it, and you won't like the consequences. Kakashi, since you were late, you will start off with sixty pounds. Any time someone is late or fails to follow orders, another ten pounds will be added."

There was a flurry of movement as the nins activated their seals and groaned under the new weight. Shikamaru sighed at how troublesome this was becoming.

"Now, the purpose of this first exercise will be to increase your senses and reaction time. Since we're in a large group, we will be doing it a bit differently than how I learned it, and be thankful for that.

Kakashi, I will need you to put on this blindfold."

Kakashi complied with Fox's demand, grumbling all the while and stood at attention, waiting for further instruction."Now Kakashi, all you have to do is duck."

"Duck from wha—ouch!"

"If I ever meet this 'Zaraki-Sensei' of Fox's, I'm going to rip out his spleen and shove it down his throat." The other nin nodded in agreement with Kiba's statement as they lay panting on the training field.

They had literally gone through a training month of hell. Fox had demanded that they increase their weights by ten pounds each day and run five laps around Konoha as a warm up. The first 

week of training had consisted of learning what Fox called 'the basics'. It could also be looked at as the fourth layer of hell.

They had all learned new ways to do exercises that they had been doing their entire lives. A new way that involved a lot more concentration and a lot more pain.

Walking on water was replaced by walking on water while dodging hundreds of senbon and trying to balance a book on your head at the same time. Pushups had to be done with one hand, or better yet, one finger while having a teammate jump on your back every few seconds. Every exercise they did seemed to have come from Fox's sadistic sensei that they all had developed a deep hatred for.

After learning the 'basics' they had been sorted into smaller groups and were taught the techniques that Fox thought would suite them best. They each had one-on-one time with Fox's clones and if they didn't speak in only English while training, they would get ten more pounds added to their weight.

Naruto was surprised at how far his previous teammates and companions had come. Sasuke seemed to have come out of his emotionless shell enough during training to yell at/try to kill him, and Hinata had actually stopped stuttering all together. Sakura was a force to be reckoned with due to her chakra control and Tsunade like strength, and the others had caught on quick to every exercise he introduced.

"Okay my kits! Tomorrow is the glorious day in which we put this fun training behind us. Be sure to show up at the gate at seven am sharp! If you decide to be late you will get fifty pounds added to your weight plus a personal training session with me." Naruto smiled widely as the faces of the nins contorted in terror at the thought of what a personal training session would imply. "Remember, seven am!"

Everyone waited anxiously at the gate the next day, their bags bulging with weapons, scrolls, and clothes, hopefully enough to last them a year. Even Kakashi was on time, which was either a sign that hell froze over, or that Fox's training had instilled a deep fear even in him.

The Anbu of the group had on their regular masks. Sasuke's jackal mask and Neji's panther mask gleamed in the early morning sunlight. Sakura, Hinata, Tenten, Ino, Shikamaru, and Kakashi had on the standard swirl patterned masks to hide their identities for the mission.

"Hey, why are you all so jumpy?" Naruto nearly fell over laughing as his team, save Shino, nearly fell over at the sound of his voice. He had hid his chakra signal so well that they hadn't even felt him approach. "You all know that we will all be going undercover as students, so try not to show too much of your abilities. Sakura, that means no punching through walls if you get angry once 

we get to the school. The semester starts on September first, and until then we will be staying at our clients HQ."

"How are we going to get there Fox-sama?"

"Don't worry Hinata-chan, we were given some pretty good instructions on that. But first, everyone please put your hand on this pole." Fox smiled wickedly as he thrust the pole he had been holding forward.

"What's the pole for?" Sasuke voiced the groups concerns. It wasn't like they didn't trust their commander, it was just that they had too much experience with his sadistic side to randomly go along with whatever he said.

"You'll find out, now grab hold of it before I increase your weights."

The group quickly grabbed hold, their stomachs sinking at the joy they heard in Fox's voice. Experience told them that this was going to hurt.

As soon as the last person put their hand on the stick, everyone felt a tugging sensation around their naval, and then the world around them spun. It felt as though they were all being forced into a copy Lee's green spandex suite that had shrunk in the wash.

Suddenly they came to a halt and crashed to the ground in the middle of a field, very bruised and confused. Fox, the only one who had been prepared for the trip, was standing and laughing at the heap of shinobi in front of him as a not so amused Sasuke sent him a death glare from the bottom of the pile.

"Ah, they're here!"

The shinobi all looked up as a white haired man with bright blue eyes and billowing robes strode toward them.

**That was fun. I'm surprised at how caught up I've gotten in this story. It's gotten to the point where I'm writing ideas for it in all of my classes (when I really should be paying attention, but hey, who cares?). Thank you to all of you readers who reviewed, I now love you to death. Until next time Eiralyss**


	5. Magic and Madness

**Next Chapter!! Amazingly my teachers still haven't noticed that I've been writing this story and others in my green notebook all through the class period. Once again, PLEASE TELL ME ANY PAIRINGS YOU ARE INTERESTED IN SEEING IN THIS STORY!!**

**Key-**

"**Kyuubi talking"**

'Naruto talking in his mind'

"regular talking"

"_Talking in Japanese"_

Chapter Five: Madness and Magic

Sasuke's POV

Is it considered insubordination if you plot ways to assassinate your Captain? If so, I was extremely guilty of it, but my Captain was also to blame.

Our first true confrontation was the second day of training when he decided that I would be the demonstration for the next exercise, and quite honestly, I couldn't care less. I hadn't cared about anything since the day that—never mind. Point was I just didn't care. Then he had to go and call me _that._

**Flash Back**

"Come on teme, you're going to have try harder if you don't want to get hit." Teme. I hadn't been called that since that day. I hadn't cared since that day. Now I felt a spark of anger, I cared. I cared enough to want to rip out the Captain's throat.

"Do not call me that." I hissed at him, throwing all of my hatred into a killer glare, and you know what he did? He laughed at me. He dared to laugh at me. My emotions that I had thought dead, that I hadn't cared about, came back in a rush: anger, hatred, pain. The things that I had suppressed, the memories, came back.

"What, the great Uchiha is afraid of a little name? Come on teme, you have to be stronger than that."

What did he know? What did he know of the things I went through? I had killed the only one who had ever called me that. I had killed my best friend, the only one who tried to save me. What did he know?

I lunged forward and tried to stab him with my katana, only to hit air. He was too damn fast. I growled and flung an assortment of kunai and senbon at him while regaining my balance on the lake's surface. I looked back up, and he was gone.

I stiffened when I felt the cold metal of his sword against my neck and heard his voice in my ear. "Nice try teme, next time don't act rashly due to your emotions."

What did he know?

**End Flash Back**

It was still true that I hated him. Every other thing he did brought back memories of _him_. His obsession with Raman, his rude nickname for me, his way of moving were all so similar to _his._ The one who had saved me when Orochimaru had tried to take over my body, the one who I had tried to kill before, the one who I had killed the second time, the one who saved me by sacrificing his self.

It was still true that I was anti-social, but it seemed that whenever I was around this Captain, I would end up in a shouting match with him always coming out the victor.

The only difference was that I now respected him. I wanted to kill him, to stab him with thousands of senbon, creating a slow and incredibly painful death, but I respected him in a twisted way.

My newest reason for wanting to murder him in the most painful way possible was the predicament that I now found myself stuck in. That damn pole he had us grab had somehow transported us to a field, and not expecting the sudden move, everyone except for him was on the ground in a dog pile, with me on the bottom. He was going to die in his sleep for this.

I jumped to my feet as the others got off of me and stared expectantly at Fox. This mission was promising to be an interesting one. From what I had been told, we were supposed to guard a school and its students for a year while acting as students so no suspicions were raised. This school was one for 'wizardry' as they called it, which was basically the manipulation of chakra for those who didn't have that much of it to start with.

An impossibly old looking man in something that resembled a dress walked over towards us, and from the way that he and Fox greeted each other, I assumed that he was our employer. Ten minutes and another odd trip like the one with the pole later, we were standing outside of a dilapidated looking house.

**Normal POV**

"Lupin, will you get the door? I'm pretty sure that it's Dumbledore back with whoever it was he went to get." Mrs. Weasley shouted from inside the kitchen where she was struggling to get the pots and pans back in order.

"Of course Molly, just give me a moment." Lupin strode over to open the door only to reveal a very tall man with a menacing looking fox mask on. Only one word ran through his mind: Deatheater.

"Molly! Grab the kids and run! They've found us!" Lupin shouted to Mrs. Weasley from over his shoulder while pulling out his wand to face the invader.

"Now, now, no need for worry Remus." A bemused Dumbledore stepped up from behind the masked man and smiled at Lupin. "Meet Shadow Fox and his team. They are the ones that I have hired to protect Harry and Hogwarts this year."

Lupin stared at the masked fox in front of him and then looked past him to see several other rather intimidating masked figures.

"Dumbledore, are you sure—" Lupin started to voice his concerns before Dumbledore cut him off.

"No need for undue alarm. They are trustworthy, I assure you. I have hired them through an old contact of mine whom I happened to run into while exploring Japan. Did you know that there are several hidden villages there? Now are you going to have us stand in the doorway all day or are we allowed to enter?"

Lupin stood to the side to let Dumbledore and his 'guests' enter, his mouth wide open in shock and confusion.

"**We seem to be scaring all sorts of people lately, eh kit? Watch out though, this one smells of a wolf"** Kyuubi muttered to Naruto as they headed into the house.

'No need to worry Kyuu, I'll be careful. It just wouldn't do to have survived Zaraki-Sempai's and your training only to die in some weird country. '

"Is everything all right Remus," inquired Mrs. Weasley as she stepped out of the kitched. Her eyes widened suddenly as she saw the ten masked people standing in the living room.

"Ah, Molly! Would you be so kind as to gather the members of the Order as well as Harry and his friends so that we can get them acquainted with the new guards?" Dumbledore smiled at her, eyes twinkling as she gathered her wits.

"O-of course. I-I'll get them right away." A rather frazzled Mrs. Weasley ran off to get the people who were scattered throughout the house.

"Who do you reckon they are Harry?"

"Blimey, that one looks creepy."

"What is Dumbledore thinking? They look like they could be deatheaters!"

The wizards gathered at number twelve, Grimmauld place all stared curiously at the masked strangers that Dumbledore had brought with him.

They were all wearing unusual clothes with random bits of armor attached and rather dangerous looking swords and knives strapped to them. They had a foreign, intimidating air about them, and one of them seemed to have bubble gum pink hair.

"Relax, relax, there is no need to threaten our new guests." Dumbledore stepped out in front of the masked strangers (1) and raised his eyebrows at the wizards who had their wands raised at the group.

"And who exactly are these guests?" Snape practically spit out the word guests as though it were a curse word and gave his best glare at the people standing behind Dumbledore.

"These are elite ninja from a hidden village that I have hired to protect Hogwarts this year. I hope that you all will do your best to make them feel welcome."

"WHAT!?"

Naruto smiled at the shocked/terrified looks on the faces of the people in front of him. Obviously his employer had not warned them of his coming. He calmly stepped forward and tried to communicate with the obviously flabbergasted people.

"Hello. I am Fox, the leader of this team. It's a pleasure to meet you all. I hope that we can get along, no?"

"Well said Fox," Dumbledore said, practically beaming at the Anbu captain. "Now if you all would be so kind as to take off your masks and intro duce your selves to us."

"_What should we do Captain? We are strictly forbidden to take off our masks without permission from Tsunade-Sama, but he is our employer!" _A rather nervous Sakura was staring pleadingly at Naruto. Naruto, in turn, smiled. He had been prepared for this and had placed a small genjutsu on himself earlier to alter his eye color and to get rid of the whisker shaped scars on his cheeks.

"_Relax Sakura, he is our employer and it's not like we could pose as students in the school inconspicuously while wearing our masks, so every, masks off." _Naruto waited as one by one, his team stepped forward to hand him their masks, their faces still hidden in the shadows. "_Let's introduce our no? Include your name, age, and rank."_

"I am Haru—um, Sakura Haruno, I am currently 16 years of age, and I am a jounin. Nice to meet you!" Sakura smiled at the wizards, a little bit uncertain as they stared.

"I am Ino Yamanaka! I'm 16 and I'm a chuunin!"

"I'm Hinata Hyuga, I'm 15 and I'm a jounin."

"Shikamaru Nara, 17, a jounin."

"Yo! Kiba, age 16, and a jounin, and this is Akamaru!"

"Kakashi Hatake, age 27, jounin rank."

"I'm Tenten, I'm 17, and I'm proud to be a jounin."

"Shino. 16. Jounin."

"Neji Hyuga, 16, I'm an Anbu, codename Panther."

"Sasuke Uchiha, age 16, Anbu level, codename Jackle"

"I'm last! I'm, well I can't really tell you my real name. Call me Kitsune if you need to, I'm 16 and I'm Anbu Captain Shadow Fox."

The wizards stood silently for a second not knowing what to do. These people were different, that was for sure. They were too tall for their ages, too mature looking, and they looked like muggles. One of them had a dog with him the size of a wolf and several of the others looked as if they had swords strapped to their backs. They stared for a moment more before exploding.

"What are you thinking Dumbledore! These are children! Half of them are girls. How can we expect them to keep their mouths shut about this?" Snape hissed, his eyes silted as he once again glared at the nins.

Neji tossed a shuriken at him, cutting a few strands of hair and his cheek before he even knew what was going on. "I hope you didn't include me in your count of the girls, and even if you were, I will assure you that they are just as strong and dangerous as a man can be. In case you 

didn't notice, we are ninja's, trained from birth in our art, we were no longer considered children since we graduated the academy, and I assure you that we are more than capable of doing our jobs."

Snape visibly paled and gently touched the bleeding cut on his cheek as the rest of the room fell silent. The older wizards looked cautious and distrustful, while several of the younger ones looked as though Christmas had come early.

"Hehe, perhaps it would be best if we gave you a quick demonstration of our skills. Do you have a backyard or some kind of open area? I would think that you want this house still intact after wards." Fox broke the awkward silence. If the wizards didn't believe in their skill, it was going to make the mission ten times harder.

A minute later, everyone was standing in the large field where Naruto and his team had first landed.

"Oi! Teme, you want to show them what we've got?" Naruto realized that he had slipped up a couple of weeks before when he had called Sasuke by his old nickname, but luckily, no one thought anything of it.

"I'd say we face one of them against one of us, to see how they'd fare against a wizard." A grizzly old man with a wildly spinning blue eye spoke up, carefully looking over the nins. Sure they looked like teenagers, but his eye and sixth sense he had picked up from being an Aura told him differently.

"Of course, Fox if you would be so kind as to spar with Tonks?"

Naruto smiled as a peculiar woman with hair as pink as Sakura's stepped forward. This was going to be fun.

"Begin!"

Tonks took out her wand and said a simple stunning spell, not wanting to hurt the boy in front of her, but he was already gone. She felt a tap on her back and came face to face with the leering fox mask he had been wearing earlier. She belatedly brought her wand up, but he was gone again. Several kunai whizzed by her, creating a perfect outline of her shadow on the ground and it was then that Tonks realized her wand was gone. She shivered in fear as the edge of a knife traced her neck and a voice whispered in her ear: "Dead". He had just been toying with her.

"What the bloody hell was that? " A rather shocked looking red head, actually there were quite a few red heads, shouted. Naruto let out a low chuckle. If it weren't for the eye color and the absence of a killer demon it could be a small clan of Gaaras.

"That was nothing. You should see him when he's somewhat serious." Tenten laughed as the wizards bombarded her, all asking the same question.

"He wasn't serious?"

"Of course not, our Captain isn't that weak."

"Mr. Kitsune, perhaps you would give us a small demonstration of your more serious side?"

"Hey teme, you up to showing them what a real spar looks like?"

"My pleasure, _Captain."_

"Um, Fox-Sama, maybe we should set up some rules so that there aren't any accidents." Hinata looked nervously at her Captain but relaxed when she saw him smiling.

"Good idea Hinata-Chan. Okay teme, we'll be limited to taijutsu only, and we aren't allowed to kill each other." Sasuke merely nodded as they both got into position. "Oh! Dumbledore-Sama, you might want to set up a barrier or something." A shield went up around the wizards as Sakura shouted the beginning of the match.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" The wizards were staring at Sasuke and Fox with a mix of awe and horror. The two teenage boys were moving faster than the eye could see and hitting with enough force to send each other flying for miles.

Sasuke ducked a punch as he lashed out with one of his own, but was forced to jump back to avoid an axe kick from his Captain. Fox jumped forward and kicked again, missing Sasuke and creating a small crater in the ground. He jumped into the air as Sasuke came at him, his punches coming one right after the other, barely avoiding contact. Fox pivoted on his left leg and brought his right leg up for a roundhouse kick straight to Sasuke's chest, leaving him winded and dazed enough for Fox to get behind him and deliver a strong kick in-between his shoulder blades. Sasuke fell to the ground as Fox stood over him, smiling as usual.

One day he was going to kill his Captain.

**Wow, so how was that? I think that was my longest chapter ever, and I have realized that I am horrible at fight scenes, but oh well. Please review, it gives me energy to write more when you do and if you have any interesting suggestions or critics, I would love to hear them. On a side note, this story has now gotten over 1,500 hits! Eiralyss**


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